One of several images Cindi evoked was this idea of the Internet of Peace - not bound to our computers, but because of computers and modern technology we are all closer and interconnected now more than ever. She referenced the tragedy of what is going on in Japan and how immediately on an international level people changed their course to focus on helping, being reached and finding out how to assist through their phones, Facebook and their computers.
Cindi also said that while the tendency for us is to say the expression, "The world is getting smaller," when in fact because of modern communication devices we are in fact getting closer. It's an illusion that the world is getting smaller. We are closer and in constant contact with each other. We have the ability to come together for a cause (Japan) and not fight for a cause, but come together (Egypt). Speaking to Egypt, Cindi quoted Dwight D. Eisenhower saying that,
“I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.” Cindi also posed the question, "How much do people really want peace?" How much do we really want this? I think about myself more than the masses in wanting peace - personal peace rather than global, but it does really start with me, doesn't it? It's kind of like when you think, "What difference does it make if I (fill in the blank) or not?" Recycling? Idling my car? Eating better? Exercising? Swearing? Reacting from a positive rather than negative place? Donate money? Volunteer? Etc., etc. If we all decided we, as one person, didn't make a difference, let's say with recycling a few plastic bottles or newspapers every week, would we even be here? Would our existence look more like in the Pixar animated movie WALL-E? I like to think I do make a difference and it doesn't start with me. Plus, it takes the pressure off tremendously and puts me in charge 100% - I can control me! I can't control anyone else and their decisions to waste, or be negative, or set bad examples for my child, but I can chose better choices for me and reflect them onto my son and those around me I'm in relationship with beginning with peace within.
I was also at a small lecture with Dr. Sherri Wheaton Saturday afternoon as part of Yellow Springs, Ohio Wellness Weekend. Dr. Wheaton took us through a couple of exercises which I know as mediation or just pausing during a day and her name for them was grounding (stilling the body and mind) and tracking (noticing the environment) and choosing a "resource" to focus on - something or someone that brings you immediately into a calm, peaceful place. I have several of these and a few are: focusing on my third eye chakra spot and going to the place I feel so good at when I'm meditating in yoga or at church, thinking of my son's face and connecting to his beauty and how blessed I am he is in my life, thinking of my grandmother who has been on the other side since 2004, almost an exact year to the date my son was conceived. At the end of the exercise, Dr. Wheaton asked if anyone wanted to share their experience and a man, in front of all of us strangers, shared how his dog had died two weeks ago from a brain tumor she had several months and how he thought of her running and playing because he decided in that moment that it was time for him to begin to think of her that way going forward. It was such a tender and sweet story and we came to find out the dog's name was Namaste. Dr. Wheaton said she liked to call Namaste (this man's Resource for calm and peace and grounding) "God". I get this. I cannot tell the number of times I have been touched by someones presence or gift, gotten chills even, or teared up with so much love and emotion in my heart and immediately think, "Oh! God!" Like, of course! What a gift this person has that I'm experiencing! Because, really, I believe God is within each and everyone of us. It begins within. Whether or not you call God by another name (Source, Mother, Father, Sophia, Allah, Buddha and the list goes on...) the result is the same. It's within us all. It's our self. Our self. It (the peace) begins within us all.
Back to Cindi White and some random thoughts and quotes I feverishly transcribed during yesterday's Unity service (I was beside myself wanting to retain her words and share them here!)
"Peace flows like a river through my mind..." - Charles Filmore.
With regard to getting sucked into someone Else's frenzy (like road rage for instance) "I'm at peace so I'm not seeing that around me," - whatever that represents.
"Peace is not an absence of war. It's a virtue. It's a state of mind." - Spinoza (What teacher's of the past have known all along.)
Where can we find peace in our own lives?
A children's story. There was a king who offered a prize to the person who could best paint him a picture representing what peace is. The contest cam down to two participants. One drew a still lake, with a calm sky and surroundings and everyone thought this the winner. The king picked the second painting though of a tumultuous lake with winds and clouds and a storm and a torrential waterfall because when he looked carefully through the waterfall he saw a rock with a tree branch sticking out and a nest with a mother Robin sitting on it. Peace is not only in a place without hard work and tumult, but in calamity of heart.
Our choice is to create a nest inside where we always go to rest (like Dr. Wheaton's "resource".)
Resisting what is doesn't bring peace within. True peace is the stillness within our own hearts.
"Only the mind turned inward...will find peace." - TAO
"To the mind that is still the whole universe surrenders." - Eastern philosophy.
(And here I break because I have to go to a callback for a film! Yeah! And I don't want to feel rushed and not have peace trying to complete this and still drive the 20 miles to Pittsburgh under the clock! So there will be a part 2 later!)
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